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“Allllright listeners! That was your triple threat play of the day! Featuring rising new talent Blue-Jo, and old favorites, KidRX and Namba Nari!!! Remember to tune in Monday mornings for Present Mic talks, Wednesday evenings for the Present Mic show, and everyday for your favorite PYHU radio hits!!! It’s been a SLICEEEE with you all today and I hope you have a KiiiiLLLLLERRRRRRRR weekend!”
Yamada waited for the red ‘on air’ light in his recording booth to flicker off before letting out a happy sigh, sliding his headphones off and depositing them in their sacred place on the little booth’s headphone rack. It had been a good show. Anytime he got to help a new artist get their music out there made for a great show. He was excited for Blue-Jo. Yes, partly because getting her break on PYHU would mean great exposure for the station, but also because he genuinely thought she was good and deserved to be heard by an audience much larger than the little coffee shop he had found her playing in.
Maintaining the PYHU radio station was a hell of a lot to juggle. Yamada had no doubts he wouldn’t be able to do it without the awesome team he’d assembled to run the day-to-day business at the station. And then there was his new position at UA. And his actual hero work.
And then of course, his most favorite responsibility, one he was eager to get out of this booth and back to.
He stepped out of his booth and into the adjoining room; a large room lined with other recording booths of various sizes, a few desks with busily working DJs and interns, and a lounge area on one side.
He headed for the brightly colored bean bags and couches of the lounge, smiling when a veritable explosion of purple hair popped up over the top of one of the sofas.
“Daddy!” Shinsou chirped happily.
Yamada couldn’t help but laugh. His five year old had a pair of oversized DJ headphones smashed over his hair and a HUGE pair off mirrored-silver goggles on his face. He grinned at his Dad in his goofy, ‘signature’ smirk that Aizawa said made their son look like a little purple rat. Yamada thought it was simply adorable and his amusement instantly faded into a pleasant warm feeling.
“Hi bug!” He walked up and scooped up his son, wiggling him back and forth in a bear-tight embrace before setting him back down on the couch.
“Happy nanny-verse-ee Dad!” Shinsou said, pushing the goggles up onto his head to join the headphones.
“Anniversary?” Yamada asked, amused. “It’s not my anniversary buggy.”
“But Thea said so!” Shinsou protested. Yamada wrinkled his brows in confusion and looked around the room until he found Thea Greene sinking into one of the beanbags. The young woman was not only a sidekick at the same hero agency he worked for, but was also his second in command DJ here at the radio station, and occasional impromptu babysitter when Yamada needed to bring his son into work.
“It’s totally your anniversary dude.” She said, looking up at him.
“Shouta and I were married in June Thea-”
“Not your wedding anniversary.” The blonde held up her phone. Yamada stepped over to her to read the screen, a ‘on this day’ post from Thea’s facebook about her first day officially DJ-ing solo on PYHU radio.
“Ok so it’s YOUR anniversary?” Yamada asked.
“Dude. Do you remember the day I got to go solo in the booth?” Thea asked, standing up.
“Um… I really hate to say it, but no…” Yamada chuckled awkwardly.
“The reason I got to go solo that night was because YOU went to the hospital because your husband found a kid on the streets.” Thea explained, nodding her head to the boy on the couch. Yamada’s eyes widened as the realization hit him and he snapped his gaze back to his son. Shinsou had gone back to playing ‘Tap Tap Toads’ on a tablet and was thoroughly entranced as he smashed his finger on the screen repeatedly. His mouth fell open.
Yamada had Shinsou’s birthday memorized, was already planning a huge celebration for his 1st adoption anniversary… but he was horrified that he forgot the date he actually met his son. He wished he could say it seemed list just yesterday, but it didn’t. Shinsou just fell into place within their family so quickly that it was hard to remember the time when he wasn’t there. It was easier to forget that he had once been a bruised, battered, and scared little kid in a hospital bed.
A year…
“You ok there boss?” Thea asked, leaning forward to look at Yamada through her rose tinted glasses. Yamada looked at her, mouth still hanging open. He took a deep breath and was suddenly all too aware of the face he had started to cry, tears slipping down his cheeks to fall on his red sweater.
“I’m fine.” He smiled, looking back to his son. “I just… can’t believe I’ve had him for a whole year.”
“Yeah well, he’s a good kid. And I’d love to stay here and hang out but my show starts in...20 minutes and I gotta change out of this before I get in the booth." Thea gestured to her hero suit she was still wearing.
“Oh, yeah yea. God, thank you for watching him Thea.” Yamada gave her a squeezing hug as well.
“No problem at all, loved it. Happy anniversary Mic.” Thea winked and plucked her goggles off of Shinsou’s head. “Later squirt.” She called out as she walked away.
“Bye Thea!” Shinsou said, not looking up from his tablet.
Yamada watched him for a few minutes before shaking his head, looking around for Shinsou’s backpack. When he found it, he carefully packed up all of Shinsou’s toys that had been littered around the lounge, astounded that he could make this much of a mess in the two hours of Yamada’s radio show.
“Hey Toto, ready to go home?” He asked.
“Yes please.” Shinsou handed him the tablet and smiled. Yamada smiled back, tucked the tablet in the backpack, and held out his hand for his son to take.
On the train, Shinsou was given back his tablet while Yamada dug out his own phone, opening a new message for his husband.
Hizashi: Can you pick up those noodles Toto likes for dinner?
Hizashi: And some of that crepe cake from the Bakery by the school
Shouta: The cake you said only to let you have on special occasions?
Hizashi: It’s a special occasion.
Shouta: whatever it is I forgot and Im sorry in advance.
Hizashi: It's ok, I forgot too. Thea reminded me.
Shouta: Reminded you of…
Hizashi: A year ago today, you had me meet you at the hospital because you had found a certain little angel on your patrol.
Shouta: Oh.
Shouta: I'll get the cake
Hizashi smiled and put his phone away. He turned to Shinsou and ran his fingers through his son's purple locks, unreasonably soft like purple cotton-candy. Yamada accepted the first week he was home with them that his mass of purple hair would never be tamed. He’d gotten him a haircut once, a terrible terrible haircut that turned his son into a violet version of a chia pet and forced Yamada to go on snap-chat hiatus until it grew back in to a reasonable length. He’d grown to adore his troll-doll looks.
He adored everything about Shinsou. His fascination with bugs. His insistence on staying up late twice a week to watch a random American cooking show that Yamada let him watch because it was good early exposure to the English language. He loved his son’s hatred of flip flops, snow, and mint flavored toothpaste. He loved the way Shinsou offered up his whole little heart to love his new family and the way he big purple eyes took in the world around him.
The love he had for his son was overwhelming. And it was different from any other love he’d felt before. He loved his parents. He loved his husband. But his love for Shinsou was more… protective he supposed. Shouta was his equal, his partner. Shinsou was his… well he was HIS.
“My Toto-bug…” He whispered happily, smoothing down some more of his son’s hair.
“What?” Shinsou asked, looking up at him. Yamada just chuckled.
“Happy anniversary Hitoshi!” He exclaimed.
“What is that? A nanny-verse-ee?” Shinsou asked.
“Oh well. It’s kind of like… a birthday! But a birthday for a day that something happened!”
“It’s my birthday!?” Shinsou scrambled to his knees on the train seat, Yamada had to lurch to grab the tablet before it clammered to the ground.
“No, your birthday was in July remember? We had a party! It was off. The. hook!” Yamada said with dramatic hand motions.
“It’s your birthday?”
“No, mine was right after yours. It’s not anyone’s birthday! It’s the anniversary of an important day.” Yamada explained, putting the tablet once more into the backpack on the other side of his son.
“What important day?”
“A year ago, I met… you. Do you remember when you were at the hospital?”
“Uh… I was sick?” Shinsou asked.
“You had owies. We stayed while the doctors took care of you. And we decided we wanted to be your Daddy and Papa forever so we brought you home to live with us!”
“And Toast.”
Yamada laughed at the mention of their hideous cat who had fallen in love with Shinsou as much as they had.
“Yes,” he chuckled. “Toast too.” He sighed. “I love you Hitoshi, and I’m so glad you found us.”
“I find all of daddy’s lost things.” Shinsou smiled at him. Yamada lifted his hand to cup Shinsou’s cheek before patting it.
“Yeah, yeah you do. Now how about we get home and have a RADICAL party!”
---------------------------------------
He might be getting old.
He was definitely getting old. Was 23 old enough to feel old?
A “radical” party between 18-22 meant booze, possibly illegal substances, someone getting tipsy and stripping… usually him, and hangovers that felt like they lasted for weeks.
A radical party for him now at 23 meant copious amounts of takeout noodles, an expensive crepe cake, and reruns of ‘The Expanse’ dubbed in Japanese for Shinsou. All the while, lumped together in what Yamada called a ‘snuggle pile’ on the couch in their jammies.
“Is this age appropriate for him?” Aizawa asked, watching as a man exploded in a space station airlock. Shinsou was laying on his chest. Yamada was tucked against his side, almost shoved into the couch crack, his head pillowed on Aizawa’s shoulder.
“Definitely not.” Yamada mumbled.
“Are we scarring him for life?”
“Without a doubt.”
“Are we… bad parents?”
“Mmmm probably.” Yamada laughed and lifted his head to look at his son before moving his gaze up into Aizawa’s black eyes. “But he loves it and hasn’t had nightmares yet and if I have to listen to another episode of that butterfly cartoon Shouta, I will get rid of what remains of my hearing.”
“You make a valid point.” Aizawa conceded.
“Plus he fell asleep two episodes ago.” Yamada added with a chuckle. He brought his own palm up to cup Aizawa’s cheek, running his thumb along his husband’s stubble. Aizawa’s hand came up to brush away a long piece of golden hair behind Yamada’ ear.
“One year Sho.” Yamada sighed happily.
“Feels longer.”
“When… did you know?”
“Know what?”
“That he belonged with us.” Yamada asked. “We stumble across a lot of… kids in hardship. We have to get them the help they need and then move on. So why… was he special?”
“What, he wasn’t special to you?” Aizawa sounded a bit surprised.
“Oh Sho. I knew the minute I walked into that room that he would be coming home with me. But… that was partly because I had never seen you look that way before.”
“Oh… well… I dont know. I got him to the hospital and… I just couldn’t leave like I usually do. He needed me. I mean, other… people and kids I have helped needed doctors and cops and social workers. But HE... needed ME.” Aizawa moved his hand away from Yamada’s face and down to rest on Shinsou’s back. “It’s a good thing you liked him too because I was ready to leave your ass if you said no.”
“Ok. I know you’re joking babe. But if I had said no, and you DIDN’T leave me to take care of this angel, then you would not be the man I love.” Yamada hummed, laying his head back on Aizawa’s shoulder. “Besides. WE needed HIM. We just didn’t know it.”
“Yes. We do.”
“This has been the greatest year of my life Shouta. The greatest. I could not be happier. He’s the best thing that ever happened to us. I love him so much it hurts.”
“Same.”
“Same!” Yamada tried to protest quietly. “Sho that’s where you say something equally as deep and meaningful!”
Aizawa took a deep breath and rolled slightly so that he was turned more into Yamada, Shinsou slipping to nestle between them. Aizawa put his arms around them both.
“You and Hitoshi make my life worth living. You both give me something that I want to come home to every day. I want to watch him grow and I want to do it at your side. Some days I dont even nap because being awake with you two is better than sleeping.”
“ Sho.” Yamada gasped.
“Was that deep and meaningful enough? I could go on.” Aizawa smiled.
“No, that was perfect babe. I love you.”
“I love you too Hizashi.”
Yamda hummed and snuggled into his embrace, drawing Shinsou closer to his chest. After a moment he whispered:
“I lied. Please say more nice things.”
“Happy anniversary Hizashi.” Aizawa deadpanned.
“Happy anniversary Shouta.” Yamada chuckled before tilting his head to press a kiss to the top of Shinsou’s head.
“Happy anniversary Hitoshi.”